• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

Stephanopoulos’s Renewal & Will’s Plan B

News and notes on the most pressing topics at the intersection of the D.C. media axes of intrigue: Stephanopoulos’s sloppy electronics, and Washington Post top editor contingency planning.

George Stephanopoulos
Several insiders speculated that Stephanopoulos’s new deal includes a pay cut, and noted that he is likely to eventually take on a more limited role. Photo: David Livingston/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
December 19, 2024

Last Friday, Disney C.E.O. Bob Iger approved a now much-debated decision to settle Donald Trump’s defamation suit against ABC News by way of a $15 million payment to Trump’s presidential library, plus an additional $1 million to cover his legal fees. The decision, which Iger greenlit on the advice of Disney general counsel Horacio Gutierrez, kicked up a predictable shitstorm over the weekend among First Amendment advocates, legal scholars, and Chuck Todd types, who rightly noted that Disney would have been in a strong position to win the case had it not caved, and thus expressed fear over the precedent this might set for the media in the Age of Trump II.